Faced with hardship in sourcing ice for their catch, Canacona fishermen have urged authorities to restart the abandoned ice factory at Palolem. Due to the absence of a cold storage facility in Canacona, around 1,000 fishermen are forced to source ice from Majali, Karnataka or Panzorconi near Cuncolim, about 20 kilometres away, or even Margao.
The ice factory at Palolem was set up by the fisheries department during then chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar’s tenure for the benefit of local fishermen. The ice factory had a capacity to produce 80 to 100 ice blocks at a time, each weighing 25 kgs.
“The ice plant is defunct for the past several years. A portion of the structure is on the verge of collapse. The whole area is surrounded with creepers, shrubs and trees. Due to the lack of a preservation facility, local fishermen are facing inconvenience,” said former Canacona Municipal Council vice-chairperson, Dayanand Pagi, who is a local leader of the fishing community.
Some years back, during a monthly meeting, the Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) had resolved to take over the ice factory and restart it. But this is yet to materialise for reasons best known to the authority concerned, said Ratnakar Dhuri, another local Pagi community leader.
In the absence of such a facility, fishermen have to travel to distant places to procure ice, said Pagi.
Also, due to the lack of a mini fish market at Palolem, the women fish sellers are forced to sit under Konkan Railway Corporation’s overhead bridge at Char-Rasta, thus hampering the free flow of vehicular traffic along the old route of the highway.
The fishing community have also demanded that a mini fish market should be set up.
They also called upon local legislator and speaker Ramesh Tawadkar to revive the ice factory or make other alternative arrangements for storage of fish before the commencement of the tourism season.